Leaving Spain behind is leaving a known territory. I was able to communicate everywhere, ask questions and this alone made our experiences easier. People recognized my accent from South America, but were not able to guess from what country. I also felt very comfortable in Portugal; I was able to get by. But now, I am out of my comfort zone. Adios Spain and Bienvenuto France!
Now we enter into an unknown territory in all senses, starting with the language. Trying to bring back the little French that I know from a book is not an easy task.
We made it to Nice and it was cold and raining. We followed the instructions - bus 98 from the airport, get off at Plaza Garibaldi and take bus 100. We made it to Villefranche de Sur Mere (VSM); that in itself was easy. Our European phone didn't work, I couldn't call Donna to let her know we arrived. Keeping our fingers crossed she would be at the apartment we moved on. Well, I asked then girl sitting in front of us where we should get off to go to 7 Plaza Felix Poullard...she knew exactly where we were going and told us she would be getting off at the prior stop to the one we need to get off. We exited the bus and started rolling our luggage on the clinging hills with narrow streets, some up some down - literally. Of course, we took the wrong turn and had to ask again. This time a gentleman who showed us over another clinging hill to the church by the plaza where the apartment is. We made it to the address to find out all the lights out. Donna wasn't there and our phone didn't work. I wandered around and ran into another gentleman who didn't speak a word of English. Using sign language I asked him if he would let me borrow his phone to make a local call. I dialed on his phone and got Donna's voice mail, left a message, and two minutes later she showed up. She was around the corner waiting for our call. Well, this part was over. She walked us into the beautiful apartment, nicely decorated, gave us a tour of the apartment, and showed us the book with all the instructions. The best apartment so far; small but nicely decorated with everything you need, and more. Donna is British, so our communication was a breeze. She left, we unpacked, and settled in for the evening. Looking back, we found angels throughout the journey and each with their kidness showed the way for us.
Here are a few pictures....very french, recently renovated with a well equipped kitchen; everything you can think of is here from the Nespresso machine, milk frother, cups for capuchino, expresso, and more. A huge selection of glasses and wine glasses, cutting boards, serving dishes, cheese knifes, serving dishes, baking dishes.....The bedroom is nicely set up with down comforter and down pillows, many lamps....well the list goes on.
The apartment is located on Rue de L' Eglise in the old town, a few feet from the harbor up the hill. On these pictures we see a glimpse of the harbor at the bottom of the hill where Ed is walking, the harbor reminds me a lot about southern CA, specifically Laguna Beach, Dana Point and Newport Beach. To the right both pictures are of the entrance to the apartment.
After Donna left, we went down the hill to grab something to eat, we ended up in at The Palmiers, a nice restaurant across from the harbor. It was full and behind us were a bunch of loud British who were having a great time. We had a fantastic dinner and immediately we found out we were in a "trec chic et trec cher" town. The next morning following our routine went out for our cafe latte and expresso. Well we discovered no more €1 prices, back to prices similar to Starbucks, so we started making our own coffee at in the apartment. We have all the equipment, so why not. We did our grocery shopping and we are ready to enjoy the French Riviera like the locals.
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